Refugi307 Underground Air Raid Shelter near Montjuïc

About Refugi307 Underground Air Raid Shelter

Barcelona was the first city in the world to face the new warfare strategy of arial bombardment of the civilian population. During the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939), Franciost forces, being aided by the Italian Navy and air force and the German Air force began bombing indiscriminately, the population of Barcelona to take out key infrastructure such as railway hubs, the industrial areas of the city and the port.

Refuge 307 is one of the 1200 plus anti-aircraft shelters built during the Civil War with the aim of protecting the population from areal bombardment. The shelter was excavated by a civilian committee in the Poble Sec neighbourhood under the foot of Montjuïc mountain.

The shelter comprises 3 entrances, each leading onto Nou de la Rambla with about 400 metres of tunnels of height 2.1 metres and widths ranging from 1.5 and 2 metres. The shelter could take up to 2000 residents who were sat on benches along the walls of the tunnels. The shelter had several auxiliary rooms such as small toilet cubicles, a natural spring for drinking water, A nursery room and a first aid room for treating minor shrapnel wounds (the most common injury). The shelter was linked into the electricity grid and sewer systems and also had a backup diesel generator with 8 hours of autonomy.

This shelter is much larger than the Gracia Shelter below Plaza de Diamant.

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